Our team is constantly thinking about what future sensors we might want to develop, so we would love to know: what would you like to be able to measure using FieldKit?
Some things we’re thinking about right now:
Our team is currently working on an air quality sensor that measures particulates, and there are lively discussions around sensors for solar radiation and soil moisture, as well as a general ADC to allow you to utilize other sensors with your FieldKit.
You can also check out our current sensor options here (including the soon-to-be-released Oxygen Reduction Potential sensor). We also encourage anyone interested in building new open sensing tools on our platform to let us know what you are thinking of!
@lindsaystarke I’d love to see a sky brightness meter for measuring light pollution at night. I’d also be interested in an acoustic meter to measure noise pollution. I’m wondering if an add-on camera trap tool that could integrate into a FieldKit instrument box is an option? It would be cool to have a timelapse from the perspective of the FieldKit units being deployed. Then again, it might be cheaper and easier to use existing camera technology already out there. Which would lead me to ask: Which camera traps might work best with a FieldKit? Anyone got ideas on that?
Hi there @jbentley and Fieldkit. In a recent conversation with @petmar we talked about some of my desires for Fieldkit uses that would suit me. There may be some synergy here. The main thrust would be to look at environmental pollutants generally man made by the automobile. CO, SO2, SPL noise levels, Particulates, VOCs - any pollution from automobiles. To be able to track that data across time alongside weather data. To show the increase realtime of the impact of automobiles or not as the case may be. To show the sound and air pollution from car culture in downtown city areas. The other current important data set, would be microwave pollution from the increased use of microwaves across the planet. These Fieldkits could be part of a movement to showcase the diversity needed in transport and the impact of industrial movement as it pertains to human health.
Hi- It would be great to have instructions to adapt arduino modules into the Fieldkit platform. We have some builds on arduino, so how would we drop them into the FK? Thanks!
Hi @dkastl ! All of those are ideas that our team has discussed, so it’s great to hear that some of our plans line up.
Specifically regarding air pollution, we have an air quality sensor that measures particulate count coming very soon, and will also be developing sensors for measuring specific gases in the air. There’s a waitlist you can sign up for here, though we’ll also be posting about its release here and on social media when it’s ready.
@michael.tlusty This sounds interesting, but what do you mean by Arduino modules? Individual sensor boards? Or are you talking about Arduino firmware libraries for specific sensors?
I’ve been researching sensor solutions for in situ fecal matter detection. There seems to be one, which might be the most accurate that uses fluorescence spectoscopy which seems to directly be able to measure dissolved organic waste matter.
Basically the way it would work is to shine a UV light at 280nm wavelength, and measure the light intensity of the fluoresence created at around 350nm wavelength.
The project seemed too big to tackle by myself at the time of my research, and life got in the way, but perhaps it could be time to restart my research if there is interest here in collaborating.
@Pete That’s pretty much where I got stuck. I couldn’t find any photodetectors at that range, at least not mass produced/cheap ones. Things might’ve changed nowadays.
I thought about maybe using a narrow pass optical filter but those are hella expensive too, so now I’m reading about making my own filters.
Also it would be affected by turbidity,and the sensor would need to be periodically cleaned.
Which of the many types of air pollution are you talking about? Particulate? H2S?
As for noise, what spectral band and unit are you interested in? dBA? dB re 20 µPa across 20 Hz to 20 kHz? Just wondering what the specifics might be. As for the seismic sensor, are you talking about a tilt measurement sensor, accelerometer, or some sort of geophone?
Hi Pete, It seems you know much better about sensor details. I actually don’t. But I find air pollution monitoring interesting and I’m happy with any useful sensor type. I thought about the use case, where you want to measure the air quality in an industrial site to proof to the people around that everything is (or was) OK.
Regarding seismic sensor, I live in Japan, so earthquakes are a popular topic here.
Hi @petmar - I was thinking of off the shelf available sensors, such as vibration, or an accelerometer. I just heard from Shah that you are making a general use board, so that is the development I would like to see. Thanks!